Relatively thin, disposable articles, such as gloves or other flat, thin articles have a variety of uses and applications in the present marketplace and have been available for many years. However one of the major drawbacks to expanding the use or availability of such articles resides in the manner in which they have been packaged for use or distribution to the ultimate user. Given the intended disposable nature of these articles and the necessity of maintaining a low cost per article, the prior means for packaging a plurality of gloves, for example, in a unit for dispensing consisted of a paperboard box containing a plurality of gloves stacked therein in a folded relationship. The other packaging means for such gloves comprised a roll of tissue paper carrying a single glove mounted on the paper roll in spaced relationship from one another along the length of the roll.
The first described means has been found less than satisfactory because it is very difficult to consistently retrieve only one glove at a time and results in an objectionable percentage of waste. Therefore too often a user pulls a plurality of gloves out of the box resulting in discarding all but the one required. Additionally, the box or container represents a significant cost which is lost when the empty box is discarded. The second means is not satisfactory because it is too costly for many applications or potential applications wherein the gloves otherwise might be made available for rise. Further, both of such methods for packaging such disposable articles for easy dispensing are deficient in providing protection against the elements of weather or against waste due to casual tampering or destruction, thereby significantly hindering the use thereof in outdoor applications.
An additional disadvantage of the common box-type throw-away container is that practical use is limited to the articles disposed horizontally on a horizontal supporting surface rather than in a vertical position hanging from a vertical wall or the like. The latter position is the most desirable in commercial applications to save valuable workspace.
Therefore, the expansion of the use of such disposable articles has been hampered by the lack of a convenient and reliable dispensing package which provides efficient one at a time retrieval of the articles in a low cost manner and further provides a more secure and protected dispensing vehicle which is not so cost prohibitive as to make the use of the articles economically impractical for most applications.